Doing lower levels a disservice

On my server there’s been a rash of groups running lower levels, groups which consist of four barely eligible to comfortable level for the instance, accompanied by a level 70. I know I recommended something like this in another post as a training tool, but it’s not used for training. It’s used for getting top-level loot now – for getting gear to level really really fast.

It spoils the lower level players. They don’t learn how to think the instance, to play their class’s talents and skills appropriately. Which means when they get to the higher levels, they aren’t wanted — and can’t figure out why.
And if they get someone like me, who lets them wipe if they’re stupid instead of working really hard to save them all from their idiocy, well, they go around trashing me for a bad healer. (Which if I didn’t have a lot of people who knew how good I am – who ask me if I’m up for a run any time I’m on – would be frustrating.)

A couple of examples, and then a plea.

First example: I ran Ulda with three hunters and a rogue. The rogue was 43 and experienced. The hunters ranged from 31 to 35. The hunters… would send their pet after the sapped target; would shoot another hunter’s trap; would melee; would put pet on aggro (not just defensive) instead of passive; would, well, you get the idea. The second time the rogue and I coped with pulls of 12, she whispered me and said, “enough”. And we went to lecturing and then keeping just the two of us alive. Do what we said, and I keep you alive too. Don’t, and, well, gear repair gets expensive after several wipes.

Second example from before I knew my own limits. Group of four decides that with me we can do UBRS. They’re… in their low 50s. They get unhappy when – oh, when I couldn’t heal everybody after the warrior’s intimidating shout brought us new adds, for example. (UBRS, intimidating shout. If you can’t see what’s wrong with that picture…) I started lecturing, and they said, “Hey, you’re supposed to help us run this so we can get [phat loot].” ummm, no. bye.

Hmmm, one more example, but this one… We had a player who decided to raise an alt – a mage vice his druid. He wound up being carried through a number of levels. The payoff came when we took him on a serious run in Ramparts – and he had trouble maintaining sheep, and he had no concept of threat management as a mage, and he’d AoE everything, and… you get the idea. He hadn’t learned how to PLAY his mage, especially in an instance. He was a good player on his main and even knew these things were needed, but never really grasped how to do them.

A plea – a simple one, I think. If you’re helping your friends level, make them work. Make them learn their job in an instance. Back off if necessary, and make them find their limits. In the long run it’ll help you AND your friends.

There’s something just so tantalizing about having someone breeze you through in 30 minutes instead of spending the next 4 days trying to pull together 5 people of the right classes (assuming you haven’t levelled past the point of usefulness of the instance by that time).

Still, i do prefer to take appropriately-levelled groups when i can. I knew it was going to mean trouble when my hunter got boosted through most of the pre-BC instances. I have tried to offset that by doing lots of research into how the class works, and i have probably as good an understanding of how to play a hunter as someone can have who hasn’t played it more. I still need more practice, though, i can tell. There’s a LOT to remember when playing a hunter (if you don’t want to be a huntard, anyway).

If i had more opportunities for appropriately-levelled groups, i’d have taken them. I’m sure you can understand what it’s like to stand in Orgrimmar for days on end trying to get a group for a particular instance. I remember before the expansion, my druid would call out a LFG for strat, scholo, or DM every time he happened to be in a city. He never got one.

The key is that the higher level NOT “do all the work”, but only take up the ‘missing’ labor.

In fact – and in my experience – two- or three-manning an instance that’s “too low” for my 70 but right for the other(s) is an excellent training tool. You don’t have too many variables (other players), and the fact you’re not a full group reminds the trainees that they can’t slack. “You are the tank (healer), and I’ll only save myself if you’re stupid,” concentrates their attention very, very well.

About…

I've experience with many priests of many races and specs on several servers. The more I play, the more I realize how much I do not yet know. This is a share of some of what I have learned.
My main these days is Zingiber on the Undermine server.